2. Under these two programmes about 800 Filipinos nationals have been trained in various courses listed below. The major highlights of the programme is that it is fully funded by the Government of India including economy airfares. For the year 2014-2015, there are 35 slots available for the Filipino nationals under the ITEC programme and 15 slots under Colombo Plan programme. One of the novel features of the ITEC programme is that it also caters to the semi illiterate and rural women in the Philippines. About 10 filipino women from various rural regions are presently in “Barefoot”college in India to be trained as solar engineers and in rain water harvesting so that on their return they can pass on this knowledge to other rural women.

Indian Technical & Economic Cooperation [ITEC] Programme:

Under ITEC, launched in 1964 as a bilateral assistance program, 158 countries in Asia and the Pacific, East Europe, Central Asia, Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean are invited to share in the Indian Developmental experience acquired over five decades of India’s existence as a free Nation.

ITEC is about cooperation and partnership for mutual benefit. It is response-oriented and it addresses the needs of developing countries. India possesses skills of manpower and technology more appropriate to the geographical and ecological conditions and the stage of technological development of several developing countries. These training facilities are also available for nationals of Palau and Micronesia.

Another cooperation programme of India, the Technical Cooperation Scheme of Colombo Plan, was started in 1950 with a view to providing technical assistance to neighboring Colombo Plan countries. Through this Scheme, India provides comprehensive and integrated training to participants from Asian member countries of Colombo Plan with the purpose of assisting them to enhance their administrative and technical capabilities through human resource development. The Ministry of External Affairs, India, has been entrusted with the administration of the TCS of Colombo Plan since April 2010. Under this Scheme, India offers 500 slots (in total to all the Colombo Plan member countries) for training in India at 26 centres of learning covering diverse disciplines keeping in mind the needs of the Colombo Plan countries. Under the TCS of Colombo Plan, candidates nominated by the Phillipine Government are sent for training courses to various institutions in India, which is fully sponsored by the Government of India. The TCS of Colombo Plan sponsored training programmes are mostly short-term (2 to 4 weeks) to medium term (8 to 12 weeks), though a few long term training programmes are also available (6 to 12 months). The TCS of Colombo Plan trainees are provided with airfare, tuition fee, accommodation and living allowance by the Government of India. The target participants are Filipino citizens in the age group of 25 to 45 years, and should have the eligibility criteria for the training programme to which they wish to apply.